A self-help tool in the form of a work of humour. It presents sardonic advice in a tongue-in-cheek style, explaining how people can ruin their lives, thus warning against self-destructive behaviours. It comprises 35 steps that provide a road map to making life work in effective ways.
From Publishers Weekly
Keeping a Chin UpOffering a tongue-in-cheek approach to living well, quiz show host and former White House speechwriter Ben Stein has written How to Ruin Your Life. Asserting that "failure is often a virtual road map to success in reverse," Stein tells readers, "[f]ollow these rules and you're guaranteed disaster. Avoid them, and you're on the high road to achievement...." He proceeds to explain how to "make yourself useless," "be a slob," "convince yourself you're all that matters" and "act like the world owes you." If ignored, his advice is sound and realistic, and may be the perfect way to push recent grads or other impressionable readers in the right direction.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
About the Author
Ben Stein, a nationally renowned "Renaissance man," is host of the long-running quiz show Win Ben Stein’s Money. He is a former White House speechwriter, Wall Street Journal columnist, trial lawyer, law school professor, scriptwriter, and novelist—and author of several self-help books on finance; including Money Power: How Profit from Inflation (out of print). He has seen the biggest (Richard Nixon) and the most famous (many Hollywood stars) ruin their lives. He has also seen how some seemingly ordinary people made something great of their lives—by doing the opposite of what he sees as ruinous acts and modes of thought. He resides in Los Angeles, California with his wife and son.
